The Drifting Empress
by WaterMonkey
Summary: (Final) "She always had that about her, that look of otherness, of eyes to see things much too far, and of thoughts that wander off the edge of the world." Six months later, Daagana-Azreah-is no closer to figuring out who she is. The name is what holds power. Perhaps her meeting with another whose name holds the weight of the world will give her clarity.
1. A Spoonful of Carrots

**A/N: Don't anybody move! Yes, this just happened. You have been so pateint and I thank you all for that. Life events sometimes take us from our passions. You know. I can't promise that Part II will be as timely submitted as our earlier every wednesday schedule, but know that I AM doing it. I started. Here it is. Behold!**

* * *

Six Months Later.

I waved goodbye to Etsu as I skipped out of the ramen shop. My walk home was easy, and my feet found the path automatically as the evening sun shined above the rooflines. The route from the food district to the mansion took me straight through the night market of Sunagakure, but the smell alone would have drawn me there regardless. It seemed like a slower night than usual, but the streets were still full of people, buying and selling their wares. Dark browns, tans, oranges and musty auburns all mixed together, all individuals but apart of the same portraiture. They were pleasant as I passed by their stalls, grinning like a fool. They all knew who I was, and I could name most of them just by their smudge. I thought there would be no benefits to being nearly blind, and it was true there weren't many but…there was one: I could smell _everything_.

One stall owner whom I knew but couldn't recall the name of, called me over. I could make out their blotchy form offer me something, and I took it readily as the exotic scent of saffron butter filled my nose. I munched on the roll the rest of the way home as the sun set. I wasn't allowed out past dark, mainly because night blindness was a real thing and no amount of muscle memory was going to keep me from getting lost. Suna was a big place and it was only getting bigger. It left Ojiisan a little high and dry on the night shift, but he never complained, especially when it gave him some time alone with Etsu.

Tonight, all that was left for me to do was go home and eat the mountain of carrots I was sure Temari was waiting to shove down my throat. _'Keratin is good for your eyes'_ , she'd say. _'While you're at it, go ahead and shove these currents and spinach leaves down there as well.'_ I could just hear her now! I groaned and a bit of bun fell out of my mouth. I nearly choked on the snort that escaped me, but couldn't stop the giggles that followed. My lack of poise was hardly a laughing matter, but I really couldn't have cared less. I was just happy that I had finally been allowed to move back into the mansion after five long months at Ojiisan's house with Hiniku breathing down my neck.

The two of us were way past cabin fever for sure, and she had probably whined to Gaara non stop about it…but I was pretty sure Gaara was just lonely and that's why my sentence had ended. I mean, despite all the trouble I had caused, I was still his girlfriend. Five months was impressive…but far too long in my opinion. Hiniku didn't care, anyway. She practically said good riddance! But I owed her a lot more than she would willingly admit. If she hadn't of chosen the job she did, I could have ended up in a far worse place than sleeping in the bed next to hers for months on end.

All in all, at the end: the trouble, the tears, the blindness, the punishment…it had all been worth it. I hated to sound so well adjusted, but I was used to having my life turned on its head. I mean, I did go from being an abused street urchin to the girlfriend of the Kazekage. There wasn't a much higher high, or a lower low.

When I finally made it home, the maid stopped me in the foyer as she had every night for the last month. She made me roll up my sleeves and hold up each leg, putting each limb on display for her to inspect for injuries. Gaara's orders…but I think she started doing it before he even asked. I didn't really get why it mattered. So I had a bruise here, or a scrape there, big deal. It was more than plausible. I was blind! Besides…what good did it do him to know?

Once she gave me a thorough once over and poked at a nasty welt on my hip that I got from rounding the ramen bar too sharply, she deemed me fit to enter. She hunkered away to clean something while I soured, my good mood ruined by her pesky jabs. I sauntered into the kitchen just as the last rays of sun slunk under the windowsill. All the lights in the house were on, and I turned them all off with the flick of a switch the deeper I went into the house. Temari did it on purpose, for me I assumed, but it was really just a waste of electricity. Moreover, if I turned the light off, I could just pretend I didn't see the mountain of healthy vegetables sitting on the table waiting to gag me.

Before she popped out of some unseen corner, I jogged upstairs to my room to shower and ask Beju how his day had been. The pup would never admit it, but I think he missed me more than Gaara had. He'd watched me pack with mild suspicion when I left for Taki, but when I didn't come back for weeks, Hiniku said he blamed himself for not stopping me, or hiding in my bag when he had the chance. Although that apparently didn't matter when I made it back home safely. He barely even lifted his head as I packed the rest of my things under guard and was escorted from the premises. I guess he felt guilty but was more upset, and those emotions were just so exhausting for a ninken. I bet he napped a lot while I was gone. He sure napped a lot now.

"Hey boy." I said brightly as I threw the door to my room open. He was mid lick, his tongue rubbing over his paw, when he lazily dragged his eyes up to me. I don't think I'd ever seen a more disinterested expression on a human or dog. He huffed a response before going back to his grooming. His fur was just _so_ much more interesting than me. So he was guilty, mad and now bitter. I sighed as he licked his way through the stages of grief, and shed my outer layers into a pile by my armoire. "Do anything exciting today?" I prodded the puppy, partly just to be annoying. He slid his eyes over to me again and huffed, like he didn't know 'human-speak'. I swear he knew bigger words than I did, but when he was this puppyish, he reverted to yips and barks like he was a normal dog and not a trained Shinobi aide.

"Well I saved someone life today when they choked on udon. That was interesting." It was a lot less cool than it sounded. Some old man had sucked down the last of his ramen, apparently forgetting you're not supposed to breathe and eat at the same time. I heard him struggle and knew he needed help when he knocked a whole bottle of sake over the bar into the fryer, ruining an entire batch of tempura. Etsu almost didn't let me save him just for that.

I laughed to myself and nearly had both my sandals off before my door flew open and Temari waltzed in. Surprisingly, she missed my eye roll as she came swooping in like a tempest.

"There you are." She said and uninvited, climbed onto my bed behind Beju.

"Here I am." I muttered and tossed my boots in the corner by the rest of my dirty clothes.

"Did you see the stuff in the kitchen? You better not have already eaten." She said and tickled the puppy's ears absently. I loved Temari deeply, I thought of her as my sister…but just the sight of her now-a-days made me want to run for the hills while she chased me with produce. Yoshino had said it was my ultimate punishment: the aftermath. Everyone had to process change their own way, and Temari's way was to try and fix it.

"I guess I missed it. Silly me. I must be blind or something." She wrinkled her nose at my joke. Apparently even _I_ wasn't allowed to make jokes at my own expense. Nothing about my condition was a laughing matter to her, even though I had accepted my fate. We usually stopped here though, this was the line. If we went any further, feelings would be hurt—or worse: _revealed_. It was like it had been after Giia died, or after one of my episodes. They treated me like I was going to break. I thought I had finally snapped them out of it, but after Taki I was back to being porcelain. They couldn't say anything, lest I crack. But even though this caginess kept the peace, it made things awkward, and I don't know how many times I'd apologized for it. That and the whole leaving thing.

I was never going to live it down. And probably never step outside the village again, but that was beside the point. I had a very clear set of goals now, at least.

Step one: learn brail.

Step two: map out the city and memorize it.

Step three: learn what each person smells like and how to differentiate. That one was going to be impossible, but I had a few that already stuck out. Gaara smelled like sand…which sounded so cliché, but it wasn't like a dry dust sand. He smelled like the desert after a rainstorm, where lightning had struck the silt and made glass. That's a better description: he smelled like glass. Kankurou smelled like wood, usually sandalwood, or whatever medium Jo was using at the time to mend his puppets. Temari was the hardest to peg. She had the wind in her hair, and always smelled like something different. She had the lingering scent of Shikamaru on her half the time, but also smelled like the ocean to the west, or the mountains to the north. She was a lot of different things, and it matched her personality more than she wanted to hear. I tried to describe it to her once, but she just shook her head and said she smelled like Nara sweat, and that's all it was. Of course, it wasn't above me to make a joke about how she got that Nara sweat all over her, and she would proceed to annihilate me.

But, before either of us could step over that line, the front door downstairs opened and closed, signaling the arrival of the Kage.

"Gaara must be home." I said quickly and got up, leaving her on my bed with Beju. I peeked over the banister down into the living room as Gaara sauntered in. He looked tired, and it was deserved. Most people thought that I was only at the admin building to annoy him, as his needy girlfriend, but in reality, I did the bulk of his paperwork. He'd probably signed his name more in the last six months than he had in his entire life. His fingertips were always stained black and he looked paler, like he hadn't seen the sun in weeks. Which was literally impossible in the desert, but somehow he managed it. I had the nerve to ask him right after I was allowed to move back in if it meant that I could go back to work as well, but he just gave me a look.

I still wasn't in anyone's good graces.

So I was pretty much just biding my time until he hated the look of paper. It wouldn't be much longer now.

" _Tadaima_." He mumbled as he face planted on the couch, Kankurou coming in lazily after him.

" _Okaeri_." I hummed as I hopped down the stairs. But before I could make it to the brothers, the maid from before appeared with her nightly injury report, and I veered off into the kitchen. I especially did not want to be there when she told him I had yet another disability related incident. I sat down at the table and braced myself for the inevitable—

" _Daagana_." A voice called and I shoved a carrot in my mouth to keep from groaning out loud. Any day now he was going to ask me to come back to the admin building! You can't slam into chairs or burn yourself on fryers in an office!

Instead of Gaara, though, Kankurou appeared in the doorway to the kitchen with his usual smirk.

I could live and die by that smirk. It had been my only companion for a long few months. Kankurou was my rock in the ever-changing tide of Temari's mood, and my advocate when even Gaara was treating me especially unfair. He swaggered into the kitchen, my big brother, took one look at the vegetables heaped on the table and gave them a disgusted look. It nearly matched my own. There was a moment of pause before he asked,

"Wanna get some gyoza?"

"Absolutely."

The Chuunin exams were almost here again. It was weird how we could go from not having them for two years, to having one every six months. At least this time around, more countries were willing to participate. From what Temari had told me, there was at least a squad from every village. But at the same time, it meant that she was going to have to go to Konoha for a few weeks to help plan since they were again hosting. I ordered an extra bento of dumplings for her trip as a peace offering. At least while she was gone, I wouldn't have to drown myself in beet juice.

The week following her departure was uneventful. I barely saw anyone, they were so busy and I was…not. Finally, after days of dinner with myself, I asked Beju to walk me to the admin building so I could take Gaara something to eat. He'd been holed up in his office for days, scribbling on scrolls, ordering Shinobi about. It was fortunate we had the arena built already or he might have stressed himself to death. After all, there would be no making another one…

That was the other thing that no one dared speak of: I was blind…and powerless.

I wrapped a bento in a cute little cloth and lead a whining Bejumaru out the front door.

At first, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with myself. The _black_ had been a part of me my whole life and it felt like I had just started to tap into its potential. Tack on the actual components of the Dark Release and it was like I had been handed the keys to a treasure box…and then had them brutally taken away. My power never made me who I was, but I will admit…it helped. I never would have freed myself from my mother, or had a reason to be taken in by the Nara's. I never would have met my biological family—as short-lived as that was. This curse my mother thought she had plagued me with was actually what had liberated me.

And now…it was gone.

To say that I panicked at the time would not be honest enough. In reality, I had a full-blown melt down. It felt like I was learning to crawl again, like I lost my sea legs or something. I was empty and bleak, like the desert. The dunes I loved so much seemed to mirror my heart that had once been so full of power. After Yato-jiisan had died and I lost my sight completely, I thought that would be the worst of it. It was the kind of disability I could handle, plenty of shinobi were blind and learned to compensate. I couldn't exactly name any off the top of my head but I was sure there were some.

Powerless, however… _civilian_. It was almost a swearword. I'd never gotten along with that side of life; in fact, I could count the people in my life that weren't Shinobi on one hand. Even then, they were still affiliated in some way or another. Being a ninja was in my blood. Having powers or jutsus or a Kekkei Genkai simply meant that it was my destiny to serve in that capacity. Now, when all of that was gone…where did I fit? I couldn't find an answer. Neither could Gaara, and he was by far less willing to admit that I wasn't his equal anymore.

I let out a sigh. Maybe I _was_ just his annoying girlfriend after all.

When sight finally came back into my eyes, although blurrily, I thought the power had come back as well. But the moment I tried to summon my _black_ , it lashed out at me again like it had when I tried to save Old Man Yato. I'd had to wrap my shoulder for days after, hiding the tear its tantrum had left in my flesh. But the worst of it all…was that I there was no more Gaara and Daagana sparring. There was no more 'we' time. That was probably why he was so desperate to find a cure, because we had built ourselves upon our mutual monstrosity. Gaara couldn't handle being alone again. I had to remind him again and again that it wasn't like I was gone. I was still here, I was home, he wasn't alone. But here now was never going to make up for where I had been then. When everything had gone to hell.

My fingers tangled in the hair on Beju's neck as he guided me to the admin building. He'd huffed and puffed about going out, saying he was tired or he had things to do. Really though, what other things did a puppy have to do? But when I told him I was going with or without him, he begrudgingly relented. He had grown another foot or two once the last six months, and his head was at my waist now. We trudged along in silence as he steered me down the streets, one turn to the next. I was fairly confident that I knew where I was, but when it was this dark, I would never be sure.

"Why did you insist on going so late?" Beju finally muttered as we turned another corner. Apparently we were taking the back way, because I wasn't sure we were supposed to take that left three turns back, but the dog led on.

"Gaara probably hasn't eaten anything all day, and you know he can't sleep. What if he passes out from exhaustion?"

"Have you ever, in the history of Suna, heard of that happening?" Beju asked crossly.

"Well, no, of course not. Gaara always has it under control, but—"

"Then why do you suppose it's going to happen now, randomly, after all these years?"

"I'm sorry. When else do you think it'll happen?"

"Never, because the Lord will never let it happen."

"You say that like you haven't seen his eyelids droop. Or watched him sway under a strong breeze after a tough battle." I growled. "Gaara is perpetually worn-out. He's at risk all the time, but especially now, when the whole world is watching him."

"The world was watching you once too. Look how that turned out." He yipped as I pulled his fur hard.

"Can't you be a normal dog, just once?"

"I don't pretend to be things that I am not, Lady."

"You know I still hate it when you call me that." I mumbled and he just lifted his jowls in a smirk.

"I know."

We followed along the curve of a large round building that I was sure was the backside of the admin. So we did come the back way. Probably because Beju didn't want anyone to see me in this state, eyes darting from one black blur to the other, not knowing my right from left. The people understood that I had been harmed on my 'mission' but they didn't know the full extent. Hell, I didn't even know the full extent.

Isao wrote monthly, and with his letters he had graciously sent us scrolls upon scrolls explaining the Dark Release at length…but even after everything we understood about my Kekkei Genkai, it didn't necessarily apply to me. Because I just had to be the outlier—the freak. It was exactly as Aunt Azumi had said:

Giia tried to use a chakra-based curse on a girl with a chakra-based Kekkei Genkai. I was immune it its ruinous effects but not to it frying my proverbial circuits. I was broken and there was no one on earth who knew how to fix me. Sakura thought it was fascinating, of course, but she thought that of most medical marvels. Her research was slow though, due to the travel required. Gaara had forbidden my travel for the foreseeable future, and though it made me angry, I had agreed obediently. I just kept telling myself that soon this would be over; it would go back to normal. Even if normal meant blind, that would be fine. Just not inept.

Not like I was now.

Beju sniffed sharply and the fur under my hand bristled.

"What is it?" I asked quietly, clutching the bento to my chest and scanning the darkness. Kankurou was going to kill me for leaving the house without a weapon. But they took them all from me! And in all technicalities, I did have a defense: I had a dog.

"Whoever you are—show yourself!" Beju barked into the darkness, barring his fangs like I had never seen. He was close enough to me that I could make out the whites of his teeth and the pink of his gums. His hackles were raised and his back was ridged. Whatever it was he saw or smelled…it was dangerous.

A little ahead of us, from around the corner of an alleyway came a short but wide hulking mass. It was swathed in black, and I had to squint to keep it from blending in with the rest of the darkness. To me it looked like a giant turtle shell, slowly skulking towards us. Whatever it was made no noise aside the occasional _tink_ and _pop_ , like an old woman's joints cracking.

"What the hell is that?" I hissed at Beju, but before the ninken could reply, a blur of tan whooshed past my middle, forcing us to jump apart, and me to lose my grip on him. I landed easily; the ground was a constant at least, and I could make out Beju's rusty colors as he rebounded immediately from the whip-like smear. Against the dark brown of the building, the light tan line looked like a stray brush stroke across a dingy painting; an obtrusive mar on a once beautiful piece of art. The tip of it writhed like a snake's head, swaying side to side, eyeing us.

"Run lady! Get to the admin building and find Lord—" Suddenly, the whole sky exploded in a brilliant firework of color. A blinding white outlined in red and oxidized yellow. There for an instant and then gone in a blink. I couldn't even make out the smoke cloud it had surely left behind.

"We're under attack!" I cried as something dripped onto my cheek. The sudden coolness snapped me from any panic that was about to engulf me as I brushed it with off with my fingers. It was a glob of something, matte and russet. When I rubbed it between my thumb and forefinger, it felt gritty and smelled like… "Clay?"

"Lady—" Beju barked again as he tried to reach me, ducking under the dividing line the whip had made between us. But it was what the whip had been waiting for as it swirled around faster than I could see and smacked Beju out of the way. He flew into the wall behind us and then to the ground with a crunch. A noise I felt in each and everyone one of my bones.

He didn't get up.

" _Beju_!" I screamed and took a desperate step towards his outline. As quickly as it has assaulted my pup, the whip zoomed around my ankles and then coiled around my body. For a moment it surrounded me, and then, like it was pulling in the slack, it tightened until I couldn't even move. The bento clattered to the ground and right then, I shouldn't have cared, but the color caught my attention and I whimpered.

Where was Gaara? What was the explosion? Where was anybody?!

All during the assault, the alien turtle shell had never stopped its trek towards us, until I could finally see that this whip was actually a tail, and that turtle shell had a head.

"Who are you?" I demanded, struggling in its segmented line. Its voice was like rocks being beaten with rocks, gravel crunching underfoot.

"I have come for you." Simple words that sent ice down my spine. Its voice was unearthly, and there was no way it was human.

"Who are you?" I shouted again but then choked as the tail squeezed me unbearably tight.

"You are a debt unpaid." Its words flitted over me, like sand stinging my face during a storm. Inexplicably soft, but terrifying and deadly. My head lulled back as my lungs screamed for air and the blood rushed to my head. It was suffocating me. Crushing me death. In the sky above us, I could see shapes swirl against the stars, colors that had no business being up there. Tan and matte against a black sky. I knew that sandy color well, it was Gaara. He was hovering up there opposite someone, and I watched as his sand attacked them.

There were more than this turtle.

"Are…you…Ame…" I managed to squeak out, my face going almost purple. It had been almost three years since the raid and yet I attributed every bad to Amegakure. It was stupid of me, and I couldn't even blame it on the lack of oxygen.

"No, I am Suna." It said, and it was the last thing I remembered before the ally echoed a sickening _pop_ that sounded from my chest and my eyes rolled back in their sockets.


	2. Find Me Beneath the Sakura Tree

Dripping.  
It was the first thing I could fathom when I became aware again. Everything in me ached like I'd crawled across the desert on my hands and knees. I cracked my stinging eyes, not expecting much in response, but was bombarded by the sharply defined Black/Red horizon. Pushing myself up, I marveled at my sight. It'd been at least six months since I could see anything clearly! But, while it was a welcome change to my now normal mushy world, I knew where I was and what kind of lies it told:  
The _Tsukuyomi_.  
Getting to my feet and brushing imaginary sand off my clothes, I looked around. I'd managed to gain access a few scattered times since my blow out with Azumi, but it had never been this clear or corporeal. Used to, when I'd descended in my room,, I could always feel my body laying on my bed, still in the real world, just projecting my spirit elsewhere. But this didn't feel like that.  
I could feel the ache in my bones, and my body felt _there_. I was standing, I was walking around, I felt the black glass of the _Tsukuyomi_ plane ripple under my feet. I was in it, body and soul.  
Time was distorted here, I knew that much, but it felt like I fumbled around for hours. There didn't seem to be any edges to this world, no lines or portals that would grant me leave to reality. I'd been sucked into myself before, but it had never felt so innocuous. I was already bored with the monochrome. The moment when I was about to let myself wallow in it, a jumble of sensations threw themselves upon me. The dripping that had been a quiet constant grew into a steady ' _whoosh_ ', and when I turned to find the source, I found...her.  
Azumi.  
Her back was to me and she was pitched in a deep lunge, her arms outstretched wide. Her shoulders heaved up and down like she was gasping for air. I felt a rush of cold and a brush of heat. Something else danced around my legs like wind and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Her manifestation had wrought a powerful change to the illusion...but I was just happy to see her. Every time I'd found my way back, I hadn't been able to conjure anything. No cherry blossoms or desert cemeteries, not even an imaginary Gaara that loved me unconditionally. How was it now that I could summon her without even thinking about it?  
But, since she was here...  
"I suppose I didn't get a chance to-"  
" _Silence_." The ghost chided me harshly. I took a surprised step back. That was definitely her, but, I mean...come on! I was supposed to be the one in control!  
"Hey now, I have-"  
"Be _quiet_ , child!" She snapped and turned her furious eyes back at me.  
Her furiously scared eyes. I clammed up. Surely I wasn't about to relive her death from her perspective. I was afraid to speak again but afraid not to. I didn't want to see whatever was about to play out, but I felt absolutely no control in regards to stopping it. Her shoulders just kept heaving up and down, the sound of her ragged breathing scraping my ears. She looked like she'd been there since she moment she died, reaching for something unobtainable. Life, perhaps. Finally, I willed up the courage to open my mouth and say something, anything. Command, her, control her, this was my illusion after all! I had done it before, taken the reigns on the world.  
Granted it imploded shortly after but-  
"Whose there?" A male voice suddenly rang out, one I'd never heard before. "I can sense your presence. Come out." Azumi's whole form seemed to freeze in place. Her shoulders still trembled, but it was like she was holding her breath. I did the same because, well, I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know what was going wrong, but it suddenly seemed like none of this was my doing and I was not alone with my demons. "Come out!" The man roared again and I flinched. He sounded so angry, but with a twinge of desperation. He had to be an Arai, though, right? Even though I couldn't place the voice? They were the only family who had access through the Dark Release, besides the Uchiha of course, but they were all dead. A shudder went up my arms as I came to a realization.  
What if...it was my father?  
Desperation sparked on my tongue and Azumi shot me a terrifying look. But what if it was! What if the generation that had been skipped by the bloodline in life had somehow been blessed in death? I took a small step towards Azumi, towards the voice, even though it echoed off everything and nothing at all. What if I could finally look my father in the eyes? What would I say to him, given the chance? Would I roar at him? Curse his name for the life he'd subjected me to, the mother he'd chosen for me? Or would I forgive him? Assure him that I'd been taught all of life's valuable lessons by another who I now considered my father? Maybe that wouldn't necessarily be what he wanted to hear, but it was the truth, and the truth was all anyone could hope for. Or would I just...cry? Cry and bawl because everything I'd ever endured had led to this, to make me strong enough to find him here. I hiccuped as a sob caught in my throat.  
"Show yourself." The voice said, dead even. The space before Azumi's outstretched hands fractured and cracked like a pane of glass, then all the pieces were shot back at us like razor sharp shards of diamonds. I threw up my hands to shield my face but was blindly knocked over by a very real Azumi. We clambered to the ground, ducking our heads until the deadly pieces of space stopped hurling. I pulled Azumi under my arm and tried my best to protect her as much as I could. What would be the point of all of this if I just lost her again? When the coast was clear, I glanced up, half of my heart hoping it was Azumamaru standing there, only to see a boy my age. His hair was jet black and spiked every which way. A large purple rope encircled his waist and I vaguely recalled that detail as a descriptor on an attache I once read. I just remember going over the line twice, thinking I had misread it. Who walks around wearing a giant rope? Then again, who walks around with a giant gourd on their back?  
He scowled at us, his hand cocked on his hip like he was the most important thing on this plane. Azumi shuddered under my arm, eyes weakly closing.  
"Who are you?" The boy demanded, but I was more focused on my great-aunt.  
"Azumi?" I asked and shook her, trying to wake her again. When she didn't respond, I looked back up at the cocky boy frantically. "Why won't she wake up?! Azumi!" I shook her harder. The boy stepped towards us cautiously, asking again,  
"Who are you?" then added, "How are you here?"  
"Help me please!" I cried and ignored his questions. "She's not waking up!"  
"Did Itachi send you?" He growled and in a flash, the straight Katana he had slung on his hip was pointed right at us.  
"I don't know who that is! Please, you're an Arai, aren't you? This is Azumi the Second and I'm Azreah the Third. We're the last of our generations. Help us!" If the boys face had ever changed, it was then. His blank slate expression gave way to surprise, but was distinguished a moment later.  
There. He recognized the names. He'd surely help us now. Perhaps I wasn't the only one realizing just how _not_ alone I was in this world. Softly, I crooned down at Azumi, cupping her trembling face with my hand. It was hard to tell what was real in the _Tsukuyomi_. The angry boy _seemed_ real. I had no idea who he was, therefore it wouldn't make sense that I made him up, but Azumi...even though I knew she was dead, I could still feel her, hold her, be yelled at by her. In the grand scheme of things, I'd only known my great-aunt for about three days, but it had felt like so much more than that. Hiniku would have lectured me on the bonds between people, reciting _'this is what family is supposed to feel like'_. But this realness that she would preach about only made the parting more unbearable. I'd gone through Azumi's loss once. Was I even the slightest bit prepared to go through it again?

Then-in a blink-she was gone. Not spiritually or mentally, but physically. I blinked and the heat of her vanished from my arms, along with any trace of her.  
"Azumi!" I screamed and frantically looked around, like she had been a lucky penny I accidentally dropped somewhere along the way. The Arai boy stood leering still, and I had the sense to glare up at him when I came to the conclusion that Azumi had not just fallen from my sight. "What did you do to her?" He remained quiet, slowly re-sheathing his blade. "If you have more experience in this world, than please help me!" He closed his black eyes and sighed like I was some sort of troublesome child.  
He was _definitely_ from Azito's line.  
When his eyes snapped open again, a shock wave of spiritual energy flared out, pulsing through me. Gone was the austere black, replaced by a glowing crimson, spinning with a necklace of onyx tomoe. I threw myself away from him, recognizing the formation immediately. This boy was no Arai-  
He was Uchiha, and he possessed the Sharingan! Bewilderment broke across his facade once more as I scrambled to my feet and fled.  
 _I need out now! I need out now! I need out now!_  
 _Panic_. It was zipping up my veins and ringing in my ears. I felt no connection to the outside world. There was no sandy bed under me or cold Beju noses on my cheek. I couldn't smell the mound of carrots downstairs or hear the whip of desert wind song. How was I stuck in here so wholly? I couldn't even remember trying to-  
The Uchiha suddenly materialized before me and I jerked to the side to avoid him. But he did it again, and then again when I swerved a second time. He was taunting me! Enraged, I ran full speed ahead until he cut me off a third time. Wildly, and much to Kankurou's training's dismay, I half flailed half punched at his scary eyes, and connected, to my astonishment. He grunted and retreated a step, holding his face, leaving me an opening to escape. To a mighty Uchiha, it probably felt like this troublesome child had poked him in the eyeball, but...I was desperate. I put as much distance between us as I could in ten seconds, and then turned back to him. He didn't move, just gently massaged his eyebrow.  
"Who are _you_?" I demanded. He didn't answer, but he wasn't staring at me placidly anymore. No, he was full on glaring at me now, tomoe swirling. "Who are-" I started to yell again but he finally spoke.  
"It's apparent you know who I am." He accused. Okay, _yes_. Valid point, but that didn't mean I knew anything about what was going on!  
"What did you do to Azumi?" I asked next, proud that I thought it up so quick.  
"What did _you_ do to her?" He asked in return. "This illusion is not of my making, so it must be yours."  
"Mine?" I gulped as I looked around at the red sky. "Then why can't I control anything? Why can't I conjure her again?"  
"How are you here if you know nothing about this place?" He shot back annoyed, sounding more accusatory than curious.  
"I'm here because of my Dark Release, but I..." I trailed off quizzically. I couldn't remember how I'd gotten here. There were beets, a messy bento, soft fur, fear, a whip, and a snap...? The boy took a step forward and I instantly refocused. "What is your name?"  
"You-"  
"I know you're an Uchiha, but they're all supposed to be-" I cut myself off with a hand to my mouth. _Dead_. Holy _Sands_! He was, "Sasuke?" Memories of my first trip to Konoha flooded my mind. Flying through the trees, the ramen bar, the jar of ointment, the mob...the hospital rooms.  
Animosity clouded my vision as the scope of emotion within those few images consumed me. "You're Uchiha Sasuke!" I screamed and the ground rumbled beneath our feet. My eyes were twinging _Black_ and I could feel my darkness eagerly sliding around under my skin. If this truly was my world of illusions, than I didn't need to worry about the backlash from the _Black._ Vigorously, I slammed my foot down onto the black glassy water, and an army of writhing _Black_ snakes sprang from the plane. "And you hurt my friends!"

~

Uchiha Sasuke blinked, mildly amused at this girl's ability to create anything in this illusion, but then was more surprised than amused when she flickered out of existence, just like the old woman had before, creature summons and all. The Red/Black plane swirled around him and he recognized the relinquishment of ownership. It was his _Tsukuyomi_ now, but all the meditating he'd planned to do paled before the revelation of the women he'd encountered. He picked over the details critically as he eased himself out, waking in the bare chamber attached to his rooms in Orochimaru's hideout. His knees didn't protest as they usually did when he rose from kneeling and hurried out.  
When he'd entered the _Tsukuyomi_ , he had been alone, with only the nagging feeling that something was off. But the feeling grew until he was stalking across the plane, trudging everywhere and nowhere at once. Finally, he felt the edges of some sort of ward, though he could see nothing, even with his blessed eyes. He's learned long ago though, that he could never rely on them in there. A sniffle was all the proof he'd needed to destroy the barrier, even though it was a literal shot in the dark. Thinking back now, it had been the old woman in control first. She put up the wall between them so he couldn't sense their presence.  
Impressive. The girl had taken over when the older one-Azumi?- disappeared, presumably fleeing to recover. But the girl...  
Sasuke quickened his pace, but no so much so as to seem hurried. He couldn't afford anyone thinking he craved his knowledge.  
 _What was the Dark Release she had mentioned?  
Was there really an entire other clan with the Sharingan?  
How had he never heard of them?_ How had Orochimaru not, for that matter? Maybe his 'master' did know about them, but was keeping it from Sasuke. The girl _had_ conjured snakes after all. But it wouldn't make sense. If Orochimaru had already trained another with the Sharingan, why had he recruited Sasuke? Granted, she didn't seem strong. She hadn't even activated her eyes during combat.  
As quickly as he dared, Sasuke ventured into the medical wing on the hideout. His 'master' had just received a new shipment of subjects, and the only way Sasuke could have come into proximity with the grandma and the girl was if they were among them. Kabuto would start with the strongest first, so the grandma might be out of the question, but the girl was likely down the line. Sasuke would have time to get his answers before Kabuto dissected her.  
The sickly sweet scent of chemicals and rank of death hit him like a wall when he pushed open the door to the surgical suite. He hated coming down here. Orochimaru's catch phrase was that knowledge required experimentation, but everyone knew that it was Kabuto who enjoyed watching people squirm under his knife.  
"Ahh, Sasuke." Orochimaru lulled when he entered. He sat in his throne before three large glass windows. Behind them, in the next room, Kabuto was prepped for surgery in a long white gown, mask, and gloves. There was a little circular microscope attached to his glasses and he twisted it around to magnify whatever he was eyeing. On the operating table, covered by a sheet and more tubes and wires at this point, a subject lay deathly still. Only the rise and fall of their breathing gave away the fact that they were still alive. "Come to watch the show?" Orochimaru's long jet hair fell over his arm chair as he watched his minion prep. Sasuke felt the sudden urge to grab it and rip it from his 'master's' head. Stealthily though, he controlled his blood lust and his tongue, resigning himself to watch the patient be reduced to sashimi.  
Orochimaru grinned evilly. "It's good that you're here. I have a gift for you." He motioned to Kabuto, who in turn, pulled the sheet down to reveal the patient. Sasuke was expecting the grandma...  
but it was the girl.  
His fingers twitched in annoyance.  
"What is the meaning of this?" He asked flatly. Either of them would suffice, just someone to answer his questions. He would prefer the grandma though, she was the powerful one. The girl was unimpressive. Sasuke hardly batted an eyelash, despite the fact that the girl was stripped naked. The sheet had been the only thing covering her, but now she was just a pile of skin wires and leads attached to a dozen different machines.  
"I discovered her during my time in Suna. Her mother bargained her for the life of her lover." Orochimaru explained. Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, a rare expression. Did her mother not realize she was making a deal with the devil? He stayed quiet though, waiting for the rest. His 'master' never needed any coaxing. "She was a curious find. Cursed by her parent, born with a bloodline limit. After all my research, I could barely find anything related to her genes. But now, Kabuto will be able to fill in the blanks for me."  
"Cursed?" Sasuke couldn't keep himself from asking. By her mother?  
"The _Jun Chi Noroi_. Child's lay. But this," He gestured to the girl, "was different."  
"Different how?"  
"We'll find out, won't we?" The Sanin grinned.  
"Why is she my gift?" Was Sasuke's last question.  
"I'm sure you can see the similarities." Was all Orochimaru snickered. Sasuke wanted more information; about the mother, about the deal, about the grandma, but he turned away instead. "Oh, and Sasuke," Orochimaru called, giving the signal for Kabuto to begin his procedure. "Your new pet needs a name."  
Sasuke frowned. "She won't have one. Names give power."  
"Come now," The Lord sang when the cutting began. "Don't be so... _heartless_."  
And the screaming began.


	3. Fault Lines

He didn't find her again until the next morning. It wasn't like he could sit around all day and meditate in his quarters, waiting for her to manifest again. He had tasks to do, or 'chores' as Orochimaru called them. Sasuke ran messages to the other hideouts in the country, took out rival groups positioning themselves outside of Oto, sat through Kabuto's seemingly endless barrage of medical testing... Sometimes, while sleeping, he'd have the opportunity to fall into the paramnesia, but an assassination attempt had kept him up half the night and, in the end, he'd fallen into a dreamless sleep. In the morning, he woke and went about his usual routine: dressing, sharpening all his weapons, strength training, shower, and then finally, meditation. Holding back all morning had been an exercise in itself, and he entered the Tsukuyomi with an air of electricity. It had been a long time since anything surprised him like they had.

The illusion was normal, the customary black earth and red sky, but he felt the now obvious pull of ownership—the girl was already there and fighting for control. Still very new to the concept of letting go, Sasuke relaxed and allowed the reigns to slip, giving her the lead. Scenery began to change as the girl grabbed hold once more. With a step, Sasuke was no longer on the black glass, but on a blanket of hot sand. Gone was the red sky, come had the desert. The Chakra sun beat down on his back with an intensity he didn't remember, and the blue horizon stretched in every direction for as far as the eye could see. Vaguely, he recalled Orochimaru saying he'd discovered the girl in Suna. Perhaps this was her home. Expertly, Sasuke felt for the strings that controlled this puppet world and followed them deeper into the dunes. He didn't yank them away from her, but tracked her to wherever she was hiding.

The grandma had been the one who hid them originally, but perhaps the girl was not as incompetent as he once thought. If only he could find the old woman, then he wouldn't have to put up with the pretense that this girl was now 'his'. He couldn't possibly believe that Orochimaru knew that they'd met on the other plain. There was no way for him to discover it, but Sasuke would not take the chance of admitting he wanted anything from her.

As if summoned, a massive doorway exploded from the sand before him, like the gates of hell erupted to greet him. Sasuke glanced to either side, understanding it was a pathway deeper into her illusion. He could dispel her Genjutsu with a swirl of his eye, take back what was rightfully his, but chose to play along. The doorway was lacking a door, but the rough wooden frame yawned open with malice. Thick black smoke rolled from the entrance and obscured everything within, wafting at his feet like it was trying to suck him in.  
He entered without another thought and found a short set of stairs that creaked as he descended. Moments of tingling darkness later, he stood at the entrance of a wood paneled parlor with no windows. It resembled a coffin, save for the roaring fire and broken furniture. It even had corpses.  
A woman was staked to the right wall with a fire poker stabbed through her chest. She'd once had long blonde hair, but time in this hot dry tomb had pulled her skin taught and turned her golden hair to strings. Black abysses stared at him from where her eyes should have been, and he faltered at the entrance as they trained on him.  
The other body, curled before the blazing fire, was the girl. Her head was between her knees with her face to the floor, and _not_ dead, he realized. Sasuke strode forward, past the emaciated wall hand that followed him with her sockets as he passed, and before the fireplace that seemed to grow with each step, until he was in front of the girl and the place mantel was 10 feet tall. She didn't react to his presence save for a whimper, which was his only indication that she was alive in this mirage. If he had to guess, Sasuke figured she must not have been strong enough to block out whatever Kabuto was doing to her. Just as Sasuke had His morning ritual, the white haired traitor had his. A little torture in the morning is good for the soul, he'd said.

"Get up." Sasuke ordered, but the shell of a girl didn't move. "Get up." He growled again and she just moaned once more. It occurred to him that perhaps she couldn't _move, and_ irritated, he bent down to her level, trying to catch a good look at her face. "I will take the pain away if you tell me everything." He bargained. The words came out before he'd completely thought them through, although it was his next course of action. Promises were not his style, but from where he knelt he could see the wounds she had been inflicted during her surgery. Her arms were split from shoulder to wrist, exposing the muscles, bones, circulatory system, and (what Kabuto was most likely looking for) her Chakra pathways. Deep gashes trailed up both sides of her neck, displaying her two pumping jugular veins, all the way to her eyes, where one had been pulled from its socket and was hanging dangerously. The tops of her thighs were split to the knee and he could see the stark white bone of her femur as it met with her knee joints. Kabuto was literally, in every sense of the word, slicing her open. Orochimaru had said he wanted answer, but even to Sasuke, this seemed unnecessary. How he was staunching the bleeding was beyond Sasuke's comprehension and he questioned his 'master's' motives for the hundredth time.

The girl's only response to his bargain was an indiscernible nod, and Sasuke took control immediately. In an instant, the girl was standing before him in her hospital gown amidst the red sky and black plain. Her self-created coffin was gone and Sasuke felt like he could breathe again, away from the sweltering heat of her fireplace. She blinked and lifted her hands to her face like they were new and she didn't know what to do with them.

"You really did it." She whispered. "How?"

"This world is now mine." Sasuke remarked, watching her wearily.

"Yours?" She lowered her hands and looked at him, confused.

"The _Tsukuyomi_ is, in itself, a singular dimension and can only be controlled by one person at a time." Although, even as he explained it, Sasuke had never in his life known it to occur. Perhaps it was because there had never been anyone else to take possession away from him.

"You would know…" She said under her breath, at once annoying him.

"Now tell me." He commanded flatly. He hadn't rescued her so she could ask all the questions. He'd happily send her back if she could give him the grandma's location. At least then he wouldn't have to deal with his 'gift' any longer.

"What do you want to know?" She asked casually, shuffling from one foot to the other like she couldn't keep still.

"How you have access." _For starters_ , he thought.

"Same as you, I guess. _Kekkei Genkai_. Every other generation of the Arai clan is born with the Dark Release. It gives us the ability to come and go as we please."

"Without using your Sharingan?" Sasuke marveled, more to himself than to her, but she threw him a look.

"What? No. I don't have the Sharingan." Sasuke's ensuing glare had nothing to do with her. How was that possible? How could another _Kekkei Genkai_ provide the door to his world, but not the key? The Sharingan was the key to almost everything that involved Chakra based illusions, so…how?

"Tell me the history of your clan." He asked next. She shrugged.

"I know a little, but I wasn't raised with them."

"Where is your master, then?" If he could just get to the grandma and bypass all this useless chatter, things would be much easier.

"My master?" She cocked her head to the side.

" _The grandma._ " He snorted and nearly rolled his eyes.

"You mean…Azumi?" She offered.

"Yes."

"She died…almost six months ago." The girl said quietly, hugging her arms. Sasuke glared at her again. That wasn't possible. Her presence in the world was so real, there was no way she could be dead. The girl must be lying. Azumi had literally put up a barrier to keep him away. Ghosts did not do that. To keep himself from uttering nonsense, he bit the inside of his cheek with a grimace. "She did tell me a little about the history, like how the clan was founded and how the Dark Release was created."

"How?" He voiced his throbbing question.

"The Kurai Ririsu is the offspring of normalcy and royalty. It is derived from one of the Three Great Dojutsu: the Rinnegan, Byakugan and Sharingan." She recited as if she were reading it from a history scroll. "The Arai were already a prevalent clan in Takigakure when my Great-great-great Grandfather, Azusa, ran away with a women he'd fallen madly in love with. Their children were the first with the bloodline limit."

"Who was the woman?" Sasuke pressed. Although he already suspected, but he had to be sure.

"It was…Sarada…" Suddenly, the girl faltered, swaying, and then dropped like a stone.

"No! Wake up, dammit!" Sasuke lunged for her as she crumpled. "Who is Sarada?" He shook her shoulders, fiercely trying to rouse her. What was going on? He still held control of the world, he could feel the strings hum around them, and he knew he hadn't killed her with his blood-lust. His only conclusion was that either she was pulling out, or something _else_ was pulling her out.

Back in the real world, Kabuto held his scalpel poised over the girl's fourth Chakra gate. She'd stopped resisting, stopped screaming all together and it wasn't garnering him the results he desired. If she didn't scream, he knew he wasn't touching her Chakra network. Her pain was his indicator. Resolutely, Kabuto reached for his tool table and grabbed a vial of smelling salts. He couldn't let her sleep through it. He needed her to tell him when he'd found the right place. He waved the little capsule under her nose, the distillation of an ammonia solution with shavings of deer antlers and hooves. Orochimaru wanted answers: whether or not the rumors were true of her power, why she'd been immune to her mother's curse, why Sasori had claimed she didn't fight back. Kabuto had thought her network would hold the key, but what he discovered was a bloody mess of black veins and arteries, in places that veins and arteries had no business being. Her heart, that should be swaddled in a nest of blue Chakra paths, was choked in a bundle of black strings, sizzling like they were burning.  
It was horrifying.  
It was fascinating.

In the Tsukuyomi, Sasuke had come to the conclusion that Kabuto was messing with something he shouldn't, but at the same time, Sasuke couldn't risk his interference being discovered. Roughly, he gave the girl a good shake, making sure her eyes lulled open long enough for him to give her orders.

"He's pulling you back. Do not speak of this. Find me again when he's through." Short, simple instructions, but the girl's eyes surged.

"Don't send me back!" She unexpectedly cried out and grabbed his arms in a vice.

"Do not tell him about this place." Sasuke said again and tore her flailing limbs from him.

"You promised!—"

Sasuke released his hold on the world, allowing it to swallow her. He jolted awake in his quarters, sweating profusely. The fire had not been real, but he could still feel it lick at his skin. Or was it her nails dragging over his arms? It was odd being in someone else's illusion. He hadn't fallen victim to a genjutsu since…Itachi…when he'd gone after Naruto.

Shaking it off, Sasuke quickly dressed and fled his abruptly freezing rooms.


End file.
